New Addition to this Page: RSS Feeds

I've added a couple of RSS (Really Simple Syndication/Rich Site Summary) feeds from select sites to this page. Basically they're like news tickers from the days of old. Those that I've added cover media issuses that may be of interest.

You can add your own RSS feeds by going to your template to edit your pages, clicking on "add page element," and then selecting feeds. You can then paste the URL of the RSS feed of your choice. You'll find RSS feeds on pages that have the following symbol:


Clicking on the symbol should bring you to another page from which you can copy the URL required for the feed.

Keep this in mind

I've noticed some of you have posted a few more entries. Please remember to keep them squarely focused on some aspect of the course. It seems as though most may have some relevance, but saying, "Hey how about this?" and then posting a YouTube video doesn't show me why you think that clip is important. I would like a clearer explanation while applying the concepts from class. Please feel free to add to the posts you already have.

Recent News Stories of Interest

Worm closes Second Life

This story touches on the impact of a virtual attack on real life.

The Yahoo Partnership -- Big Deal or No Big Deal?

Here's the take from the NY Times.

Yahoo partners with over 175 newspapers. Newspapers are increasingly more willing to partner with the technology companies they once saw as threats.

MySpace is Sued by Universal Music

Copyright law and the Clash of the media titans.

Tutorial: How to post a video from YouTube

There were many questions today and I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to get to them all.

One thing that I wanted to inform you of was how to post a video from YouTube . It is really quite simple.

I will describe the process from the point at which you would have already begun your blog post.

First, In a separate window (press ctrl + n to open a new window) locate the video you'd like to use on YouTube.




Second, copy (ctrl + c, or right click on your mouse) the text in the "Embed" text field next to the video. This is Html code.




Then return to the window that contains the post you are creating.

You should see two tabs at the top of your post, "Edit Html" and "compose." Click on the "edit html" tab.


Then paste (ctrl + v) the embed html code into your post. You can then return to compose mode by clicking on that tab.



There you go! Video in your blog. Pretty cool, huh?

If you have any other questions, be sure to let me know. You can leave comments here or shoot me an email.

Welcome COM 150 Students

This blog has been set up to serve as a resource for the students of COM 150, Introduction to Mass Communication. You will be able to find details and examples of what you should be working on as we wrap up this semester.

Your first task it to create your own blog. You will need to establish an email address at Gmail (Google's email service), in order to create your account. Go to http://www.google.gmail.com
to get the email and you can create the blog from http://www.blogger.com. You can enter my contact info at the school to set up the account if necessary.

I ask that you create blogs titled "COM150finalprojectinsertyourtitlehere.blogspot.com", that way it should be relatively easy to identify them.

After you have everything set up it's time to get started!

Design:

Your blog should make the most of this medium, while the content should focus on any aspect of the material we have covered this past semester. Ultimately your blog should develop a theme, you should focus your postings on a particular issue (i.e. populism, demassification, consolidation, network neutrality, news reporting, entertainment, media effects, advertising/marketing, etc.). Your posting can be written, audio, or visual (photos/video).

Think about designing your posts so they are user friendly. Think about using the inverted pyramid if appropriate and try to keep your paragraphs shorter, with a space in between each.

Content:

I will expect at least 2 posting per week, per person, for the remainder of the semester - by which I mean that 2 postings are the very minimum that will be considered to receive an average grade on this project (C is average).

Your content can be copied from another source as long as they receive recognition through citation and a hyperlink to the original source. Any reproduced content should be accompanied by your own analysis and an explanation of how it relates to the material from the course and/or the theme of your blog.

Your blogs should contain and accurately apply the theories, concepts, and language from the course as you analyze and interpret events in and from the media.
We will share our blog addresses with one another and I will eventually have a link to all your blogs on this site.

You will be expected to comment on each other's posts. I expect you to make at least 2 comments per week on posts from other students in this class. The posts should focus on contributing to the students analysis. You may be able to point out something they neglected in their post or connect them (via hyperlink) to an idea they may have missed elsewhere online. Your comments don't need to be long but they should add to the conversation (so to speak).


Presentation/Evaluation:

This blog will serve as content for your final project and the basis of my evaluation. The blog will be worth 50 points. You will be required to present a summary of your analysis in class on Tuesday, December 5. Presentations should be in the range of 7-10 minutes in length. Your presentation will be worth 25 points.

The Infamous "Macaca" Incident (an example of the type of posting you might do)

This video, orginally poseted on the website YouTube (recently bought by Google for $1.65 billion dollars), highlights the shift in power that has accompanied the medium of the Internet. It's unlikely that this video, taped by one of Jim Webb's campaign workers, would have ever made it to the mainstream media if it had to make it's way through all of the gatekeepers who decide what's "fit to print."

More recently YouTube has made the news again, when a bystander with a camera phone caught some LAPD officers seemingly beating a man while he is restrained (I won't post this video due to the graphic content, but I'm sure you'll fint it if interested). Here's a link to a story about YouTube's latest foray into grassroot journalism from the Wall Street Journal. The story not only looks at this incident but expands upon YouTube's potential influence (including infringement on copyright law).

I believe tha this is a clear sign of the democratization of the media brought on by this new technology. If mainstream media sources continue this trend of picking up their stories based on content provided by non-media journalists, made popular (or selected) by non-media gatekeepers (the viewers at YouTube), then the influence the public is able to have on mainstream content is greater than ever before. How long before these tradional sources of the news are replaced by a more direct, perhaps more relevant (or perhaps less), version brought to us by us through a click of the mouse?